So, Who's Watching The Place?

The two-man crew of the international space station will venture outside the craft at the same time this week, despite earlier concerns that the exercise was "a risk not worth taking," The Washington Post reported on Monday. The Post cited NASA documents obtained by the newspaper. Ground controllers are to fly the empty space station, while British-born NASA astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri conduct the spacewalk, leaving no one inside to monitor systems directly or assist in a crisis, the newspaper said. According to the Post, the Russians have made about 50 such spacewalks, but this would mark the first for the U.S.-led space station.

Mars Rover Discoveries Point to Planet's Origins  

NASA scientists are excitedly speculating that discoveries made by a Mars rover over the weekend will help them finally unravel whether water played a role in the Red Planet's geologic history, a science team member said on Monday. Scientists were pouring over data and microscopic images returned to Earth by the rover Opportunity, which spent the weekend examining a multilayered rock nicknamed El Capitan embedded in the side of the small crater where Opportunity landed on Jan. 24.